


Lighthouse

by Lyssandra_Med



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, F/F, No Beta, One Shot, Past Relationship(s), rewritten
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23334331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyssandra_Med/pseuds/Lyssandra_Med
Summary: Max and Chloe were a thing.Until they weren't.Now if only the band next door would quiet down.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Kate Marsh, Victoria Chase/Chloe Price
Comments: 7
Kudos: 31





	Lighthouse

**Author's Note:**

> Re-write of something I posted years ago, and then orphaned.  
> Not super edited but it is what it is.

It was two hours after their set ended that Chloe finally managed to palm the grungy wad of bills from the store manager and drop off her meagre belongings in the van. The backpack she had stored was just where she had left it tightly wedged in between an old drum kit and a milk crate that Rachel had stolen who knew how many months ago. The drums could stay with them for all she cared. 

Rachel might have given it to her as a gift but she knew that within a few weeks Frank would probably need to pawn it for some quick cash. That  _ was _ their way, after all. Live fast, die young, burn through all the money as fast as humanly possible. Besides, whatever emotional impact had surrounded the gift had long faded with arguments and pitiful infighting.

She didn’t need the reminder. It could burn for all she cared.

The string of keys flew off her finger and into the cupholder at the driver’s side, a perfect hit that she savoured with a simple nod of her head. Frank either would or wouldn’t be coherent enough in the morning to find the keys. Whenever he  _ did _ look for them would be his problem, not hers.

So fuck it.

Gravel crunched beneath her feet and stray rocks bigger than all the rest went flying with well-aimed kicks. What did it matter if a few landed against the side of a vehicle? The owners wouldn’t care, not if they were patrons of  _ this _ dive, and neither would she. She’d be gone before they left, off to a wild new wonder and no one was around to see it.

The music blaring from the building was stifling in its intensity, worming and slithering from windows with broken panes and out the barely held together roof. Shredding guitars followed her footfalls, scratchy lyrics forming a well earned theme music.

Haunting, just as she had been for the past few years.

There was nothing else to do except go on back inside, Vic wouldn’t be around to pick her up until an hour or so from now and until then it seemed that killing time at the bar was her best course of action. 

Shots were as good a method to dull the pain as anything she had ever come up with before.

The bouncer barred her entrance as she approached the old door, a mountain of a man with a stance that said  _ ‘Fuck off,’ _ more than anything else. Tribal tattoos were in stark relief underneath the harshness of a fluorescent light, black hair cropped so near to his scalp it might as well have been shaved off for all the good it did him. His face was familiar in the way that all bouncers became over time; just another hunk of beef hooked up to a brain that might, or might not, be little larger than a pea.

The man turned to her and belted out words through gravel and grit, “Gonna need to see some ID kid.”

The palm placed against her chest completed the meathead look, and Chloe decided then and there that yes, he did remind her of all the other bouncers, and yes, he was just as pea-brained as the rest.

“The fuck do you mean?” Her voice rose, shrill and piercing and filled with all the qualities of her music, “You just saw me playing a full set, I  _ just _ came out this door. Or have the steroids all gone to your head, big boy?”

Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to do. Antagonism had never really gone well for her in the past but… Fuck it. Why not? The startled look on his face when she pushed back felt  _ good, _ even when it was immediately replaced with that dumbed-down look of intimidation again.

“Fucking Hell, Princess. Who pissed in your kibble?”

They stared at one another for a moment longer, just a second or two, not much. But he moved.

Chloe grinned.

The bulk of the man moved off towards the side of the door, his hand propping it open just slightly for her, the other behind his back and stance still one that said he would take no shit. She glared daggers while passing him by, matching him bit for bit with intensity and fire.

Maybe her anger wasn’t warranted. Maybe he had just been making a lame joke. 

It didn’t matter.

He was there, she was  _ here, _ the alcohol was  _ in there.  _ He’d pulled her trigger, earned his reward. Just a little bit of bitching before it was all over.

With a hard shove, she pushed her way past him and fell off into the dim light and a haze of cigarettes and week that seemed to permeate every crappy gig they had worked for years. The bar itself was empty of any patrons, the only ones around just sitting far away at the back and looking at their phones. A few had cigarettes, some had drinks, but all of them looked to be so self-absorbed that she could ignore them all completely. 

Everyone else was in the room next door and crowded around the shitty little stage she had only recently vacated. She could hear the crowd being whipped into a frenzy, the music was muted in here but nowhere near enough to call the space quiet or tranquil. 

But it was lonely, and lonely was what she wanted.

“What’re you having?” The bartender asked, Chloe not even near enough the table to have warranted it. Bored? Maybe.

She placed her pack down against the wooden counter and sat atop an old seat that was more rips and tears than full leather and foam. It was serviceable but only just so, doable but only for the night.

Anything further and she was sure her ass would have fallen off.

Chloe waved two fingers at the bartender, a slightly older woman with a green mohawk and tattoos to match, “I’ll have whatever’s going to fuck me up the quickest.” 

She watched with some amount of veiled amusement as the woman looked her over, doing the same and catching her eyes on the multiple piercings all along her ear, her nose, lips with a spike coming out the bottom. It wasn’t a  _ bad _ look, not really. But Chloe had tastes now, and older women working in a rundown shitpit weren’t it. Her elbows dug into the bartop, shoulders slouching as she let show the exhaustion that had been dogging at her all day.

“Sure thing babe,” came the reply, soft and sensual and filled with all the things that Chloe was  _ not _ prepared to play around with. Not tonight. Maybe last week, or the week before, but not now.

The headache building along her temple wasn’t in the mood.

“Wanna start a tab?” The woman leaned down to eye-level as she slid a glass of amber liquid towards Chloe’s waiting hand, eyes roving and interest clear.

“Sure. Price,” Chloe answered, downing the shot as quickly as she could. The familiar burn was good enough to have tears sparking into her eyes, voice tight and shivers lancing down her spine. “Keep em’ coming for now, would ‘ya?”

\---

The minutes passed in silence until she fished out her phone from inside her back pocket, the cracked glass catching at her fingers and the whole thing shaking as she unlocked it. Banged up sides, a patch of broken pixels, the logo on the back faded into obscurity. Another casualty of her last fit of rage, another prisoner in the war against Frank.

More a war against herself but saying it was Frank meant it wasn’t  _ her, _ meant she didn’t need to think too deeply. Thinking was for later. Thinking was for when her phone had any notifications, for when Victoria finally responded.

And Victoria was likely only just beginning her drive back. Of course there wouldn’t be anything from Frank or Rachel, both of them were likely off fucking who knew where doing fucking who knew what. The days where they would gather around and party as a group were long gone, celebrations along with it. Drinks and partying with one another had been far more interesting and far more fun back when they all liked each other just fine.

She was through with all this. Well and truly done, bye-bye to it all and fuck it very much. Four and a half  _ years _ of her life, dedicated to this insanity. Ten thousand miles crisscrossing around the country, and in the end she found herself back right where it all began. A shitpit. Sure she was a different person than the naive little girl who had struck out on her own, and sure she might only be here for the night.

The feeling of circling a drain wouldn’t leave here. Everything ended up in Arcadia, a town that would swallow the world.

She  _ knew _ that wasn’t the case. Rationally it was just a shitty town and closest to Vic’s parents. But she was alone now and all the music was gone, all the strength that came with baring her soul on stage was gone. She’d forced herself to work until her fingers bled and her voice fell apart, and all she’d gotten was a shitty t-shirt, tinnitus, and a weird pain in her left hand that wouldn’t leave no matter what.

And Vic wasn’t here to mellow her out. The one person who could neatly tie up all the loose threads of her mind was forty-five minutes or so away, and not  _ here. _

She stewed and drank, drank and stewed, shot after shot until the room was hazy and spinning off-axis. Drank until the door to the room opened up and someone came in, sitting at the stool beside her.

“One Coke please, no ice.”

Chloe turned to the voice, uneasy and lilting, eyeing up the new entry.

“A Coke? You know we’re at a bar, right?” Her words fell out of her mouth, slurred but understandable, a testament to the iron gut she had cultivated for so long. Anger bled through the tone though, something edged and cutting, something that wanted her to focus on anything and anyone that wasn’t related to her own fuckup of an evening.

“Well, yeah. But I’m the dee-dee, so…” The girl beside her shrugged through the words, turning to face her with a smile that Chloe knew she didn’t deserve.

Her hair was long, dirty blonde and wavy even through the loose ponytail bobbing at the back of her skull. Strands of her bangs clung to her forehead, a sheen of sweat glistening in the dim light and face flushed red. Her eyes were hazel, or whatever could be closest to that, and Chloe wasn’t quite sure about it but she  _ did _ seem somewhat familiar. She looked excited but odd. Out of place. Like she didn’t quite belong but was making due.

More a middle-aged mom than a punk rocker, even though she didn’t appear to be any older than Chloe herself. A long chain of silver hung down off of her neck, a golden cross swaying with her movements. A sore thumb then, a loner amidst the punk kids and crusty little hellions that normally attended dives in the middle of nowhere.

“Uh-huh,” Chloe mused, her scepticism made evident. “What’re you even doing in a place like this? Not to say anything but you look like you should be off teaching school children, and it  _ is _ a school night.”

The girl smiled and spoke with honey-sweet words, “Nope! Maybe one day, but I’m nowhere near that yet. Though I will admit that being here is…  _ unusual, _ for me.” The girl turned until she was facing Chloe cleanly, a hand idly pulling back strands of hair behind her ear.

“So what? Did’ya lose a bet or something?” Chloe’s voice was grating but the stutter was gone, a consequence of metabolism or genuine curiosity.

“Oh, no, no, no.” The girl took a sip of her coke, setting it back primly on the table as she finished, “My girlfriend is a big fan of one of the bands that played earlier tonight. She used to play in one herself, and she’s been trying as hard as she can to get me into the scene. I’ve never been to a concert if you can believe it, so I guess this is my initiation? I mean, it’s not like I’m finding it  _ hard _ to be here or anything, and she says the bands that played tonight are all way tamer than some of the ones she used to know. So far I’ve had fun! Way more than I thought I would at least, and I’d have never come here on my own.”

Well. That made sense.

Chloe nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Fuckin’ A, glad you enjoyed it then.”

The bartender moved to refill her glass, a short wave and flipping of the tumbler leaving it alone for the time being. 

She swallowed, leaned back and forced her dry mouth to recede, “Which band did your girl come to see?”

“Oh! Lighthouse at the-” The woman’s voice stopped as her head snapped around over Chloe’s shoulder, “Oh, hey babe!”

The tone she greeted her partner in was light and airy, amused and pleased and filled with the notes that Chloe herself could recognize. It was the same tone she used with Vic whenever they had time alone, whenever the blonde managed to snatch her away from an unbidden social interaction, a piece of music all their own. Chloe turned around with interest, wondering just exactly what sort of girl could bring someone so obviously straightedge out to the middle of nowhere for a night.

She regretted the movement instantly. 

Chloe pinched her brow, bit back a sigh, and exclaimed with as much effort as she could, “Ah, fuck.”

Whatever light smile might have been on her lips was dead now. The flush from her drinks  _ had _ been prominent, she knew that she was pale for the most part and partial towards appearing vampiric at the best of times but alcohol  _ usually _ ended up leaving her ruddy and sweating.

Now it was cold sweat, clammy skin, her bottom lip bitten nearly through and panting breath. Anxiety like she hadn’t experienced in years and a heart rate to match. Whatever buzz she had accrued was gone in an instant as she turned all the way around in her seat and stared across the space between them in an amalgam of true shock and mild defeat.

“Wows-”

“Oh for the love of God  _ please _ tell me you don’t still say that.” Chloe’s voice was an interruption, a wall, a means of staving off the inevitable. The palm across her face was shaking and loose, the fingers against her eyes just mere hope that she would suddenly awaken from whatever nightmare this was.

The woman on the other stool seemed perplexed by their interaction more than anything as she spoke up, “Um, Max?”

Max stared, lips parted and eyes shifting while one arm wormed its way across her front to hold onto an elbow. It was a look that Chloe knew all too well, one that spoke volumes about her anxieties and fears or annoyances. 

The girl beside her stood on unsteady feet and headed towards Max at a meandering pace. Chloe watched with feigned disinterest as she pressed lips against Max’s cheek and wrapped an arm around her waist.

Max looked back at her sheepishly, “Katie, this is my ex, Chloe. Chloe, this is my girlfriend Kate. And yes, I still say that.”

Chloe nodded along and looked her once best-friend up and down, taking in all the changes and all that hadn’t changed at all. Her hoodie looked a fair bit rattier than Chloe could remember, and more than a few holes were poking through the once pristine piece of cloth. Her hair had been let loose to grow and twirl down along her shoulders in a look far more reminiscent of their youth than time spent with one another. Both her eyes were bright as sapphires and still just so beautiful as Chloe could recall.

She still disconnected their gazes as fast as she could once the thought of  _ who _ she was staring at came through.

Chloe coughed out, “Oh, yeah. We’ve already met but it’s nice to know your name I guess.” Chloe defaulted to old habits, shooting a pair of finger guns and smirking as dopey a grin as she could.

“Ah.” Kate’s eyes both opened wide in some form of recognition, “Um, well, I’ll give you both some space then, yeah? I’ll just wait in the car babe.”

Max nodded in agreement, stealing another kiss that left Chloe looking any which way but at them both.

“It was nice to meet you, Chloe,” Kate said as she waved, prompting a less than stellar response from Chloe herself.

As soon as Kate shuffled out the door Chloe found herself thrust back, left alone with her past and sweating in anticipation of the confrontation.

Max watched her girlfriend leave before taking over the vacant seat and swivelling around to leave one arm propped up on the bartop. The music surged around them as the band the next room over began to hit their crescendo. Chloe watched with a veiled and stifled sort of amusement as Max attempted to get her order to the bartender, something close to a loose smile on her face. 

She could leave right then. Just get up, get out, and walk the trails back down towards civilization. Trace the path she made in High School, follow the tracks and just go wherever the winds took her. Get an Uber maybe, and phone Vic that she had left.

Beach, lighthouse, anywhere but here. Somewhere dark and quiet where she could sulk and piss the night away.

But she couldn’t. It had been multiple years since their great and terrible sundering.  _ Ages, _ practically. Surely they could both sit down and talk things out without anything bad happening, right?

“So, I see your tastes have done a one-eighty.” 

_ ‘Fuck.’ _ She wanted to tear the words away the second they passed her lips, the acrid taste of them just fuel on the fire. First sentence in and she was already picking at Max’s choices. Not that Kate had seemed  _ bad _ in any way. A little bit naive and far too straight-edge for her preferences but she came off as nice enough.

Max’s eyes narrowed, “Yes, tastes  _ do _ change. Jesus, you’re just as stuck up as I remember. Things change when you get older Chloe, it usually happens when you grow up but I’ll forgive you for not having gone through that yet. Usually, you can tell it’s startling when you give a fuck about someone else’s choices.”

Chloe embraced the sting, winced and nodded in the face of Max’s anger, “Sorry. I’m not- I’m not trying to pick a fight with you. Just, it’s- well, this is a surprise, that’s all.” 

She swung herself forward to face Max head-on and left her elbow digging into the bar, head in her hand and eyes focused plainly on the floor. Max, for her part, seemed more than content to remain in the same position and not challenge the delicate status quo.

“Same here,” Max began, tone softer and head lolling to the side. “I would have thought that you’d have all left by now, onwards to the next town. Wouldn’t have thought you’d be the one to hang out here any bit longer than you had to. What’s keeping you?”

Chloe swallowed away the middling anxiety in her voice, “Well, the last show was tonight. You brought your girl to the right one I guess.” Chloe sat up straight and ran fingers through her short hair, forcing herself to look at Max directly. “You’re the first person to know so, I don’t know, don’t like, spread it around. The plan was just to fade back into obscurity.”

“Ah,” Max looked up, eyes narrowed and head tilted. “So the infamous Lighthouse is just turning out the lights. Mind if I ask why?”

Chloe watched closely for any sort of duplicity, settling eventually on the intuition that Max seemed genuine. Curious, even.

“Sure, sure. But I think I’ll need another shot.” She reached behind herself and motioned towards the lonely bartender, a nod passing between them as the woman began to pour another glass.

Chloe sighed, “Rachel and Frank are both done. Over an’ gone. After you left we started hitting the trail a little harder and Frank stared getting way more into the whole  _ ‘Sex an’ Drugs,’ _ part of rock an’ roll. Rachel gave him an ultimatum; he could either clean up his act or they’d need to close up shop. And, well… Safe to say he didn’t get clean. Me an’ Vic both got tired of all the infighting. Figured that it was time we strike out on our own. To top it all off though, the last guy we hired as a manager had been skimming off our fees, turned out he was a perv with a drugging fetish.”

Chloe finished her tale and downed the shot as it was placed into her hand, choosing to focus on the burning descent of the liquor over the rather annoying state of her heartbeat when it leapt into her throat.  _ They  _ as an item were over.  _ They _ as a unit were done. She knew it. Max knew it.

But why was she still so nervous?

Max chuckled low beneath her breath, an echo of their past, “Wow, I guess they can’t all live up to Steph’s legacy I guess.” Max shrugged it off, sipping at her drink and nodding in solidarity.

“Nope,” Chloe laughed despite herself, “I guess they can’t. No one in the world could live up to that nutcase. She was the fucking best.”

“Hey,” Max smiled and leaned forward, eyes bright. “You remember that night she got plastered at the strip club?”

“Oh my god!” Chloe set her drink down, sloshing the remaining liquid as she did so. “When Frank shaved his head?!”

“Yes! She introduced us as a special treat for all the ladies. Jesus, I don’t even remember how long it took us to get her ass out of there!” Max devolved into a fit of giggles at the end, eyes squinted shut and hand pressed against her chest.

“Fuck,” Chloe let out, a genuine laugh beginning to bubble up. “She kept saying she was, she was in Heaven, and she’d died so leave her alone. She was  _ the _ best!”

The memories poured forth from there. Shared moments, instances where they spent the night in stitches and on the street, the hilarity that hadn’t been any part of their lives before or since.

Small moments, things she had forgotten, things she had  _ tried _ to forget.

Shared awkwardness, shared animosity. Fun times and a life now gone.

Of course the world came back eventually.

“So,” Max asked her, voice simmered down and even. “How’re you and Victoria doing these days?”

And, just like that, Chloe could feel all the tension come back to her. If anything it was higher now, a fever pitch immediately once they reached the one topic that Chloe had hoped they wouldn’t touch on.

Chloe leaned back and massaged at the back of her neck, “Eh, she’s fine? Just as bitchy as ever but you know her. If she’s not being snarky it’s because she’s sick or legit pissed. We’ve both been out an’ working on saving up, she’s applying to some of the colleges near the coast.”

Max quirked her brow, “So you’re both gonna look at settling down then?” Chloe watched as Max leaned forward and unzipped her faded hoodie to reveal a sight she wasn’t quite sure she was ready for. Threadbare and ancient, Max was clad in the first shirt they had ever marketed, and at an enormous loss. A white lighthouse high upon a cliff and black all around it, the thin outlines of stormclouds nearer the neckline.

Chloe swallowed back at the stab of nostalgia that threatened to spill over into loss.

Bit back the wistful look and half-remembered dreams.

“Uh, yeah. We’re thinking so,” Chloe shifted her eyes away, a spot upon the bartop being far more interesting. “I’ve patched up the van more than enough times, an’ I think I could at least try and turn that into a job working with something mechanical. Need to try anyways, Vic’s been pushing at it, don’t wanna let her down.”

Chloe could watch as the words hit home and pick out the exact second that Max realized her words. That had  _ definitely _ not been the right choice of-

“Ah.” Max narrowed her eyes and threw gravel into her tone. “At least there’s one person out there that you won’t dare let down.”

That burning need for a fight came back full-bore, that  _ heat _ and that  _ acid _ that defined all her adolescent years. Years spent looking for trouble, making a ruckus, forming a punk band and running away from home with the only two people she loved and flicking a finger back at her worried family. 

Aggression, and untempered rage.

She bit it back slowly. Knew nothing good would ever come of it. She’d learned that lesson the hard way, had  _ earned _ her reprieve from that state of mind.

Chloe tripped over herself, her words, her voice, “Look Max- It’s not, I don’t want to fight you-”

“Oh really?” Max’s tone turned to ice, “So  _ now _ you don’t want to fight? Whatever happened to the Punk Princess? The Demon on Drums, huh? You used to be  _ hella _ into dishing it out. What changed?”

That stinging shame came bearing down and with it all weight of their shared past. She knew that she had earned all the vitriolic hate that Max could give her, knew that even while it was relatively civil for now that it could turn on a dime. Max could make it nasty, and she deserved it.

“Look, I grew up, okay?” Chloe lowered her head and kept her hands placed firmly on either temple, “Shitty as it sounds it’s been what? Three years now? I’ve learned to change, alright? Vic’s just been a big part of that.” 

The anxiety far down her throat opened up until her body was rocking back and forth in her seat, chest heaving as her heart began to pound and all her emotions fought her for control. Max’s eyes remained narrowed for a second more before the glare itself backed off. 

A win, in Chloe’s book.

“Alright. So we’ve both changed, I guess.” Max took a sip of her drink before continuing, “Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but what did you see in her? Back then?”

“Ah fuck,” Chloe sighed out, her head bobbing and heart rate settling. That was one of the few questions that she had been dreading for years now. One that she had been unable to answer back when it mattered, even though she could find an answer to it now. “She was grounding. She fought back against me. She’s got all her thoughts and opinions and fuck it, she might have been just a rebelling little bitch back then but… She pushed me in ways that you never did. I couldn’t just go and do whatever the fuck I wanted around her, she wouldn’t just follow behind every harebrained idea.”

“Well.” Max shook her head and sighed out, “I guess that I can see that. I never was one to push you. We never even fought before it ended. Just kept on bottling all of it up.”

“Why?” Chloe pushed herself forward, Max pulling back at the intrusion, “Why did it all just blow up at once?”

Max’s voice fell, “I don’t know. I never felt that anything was worth fighting for. You were my Captain. I went with you everywhere, did  _ everything _ with you, for years. You made me feel like a kid again, and I made some dumb decisions because of that. Acted like I still was one. And then one day, one day it just wasn’t enough. Came to a head. Too much, too fast, and suddenly I realized that we  _ weren’t _ kids anymore. We weren’t playing around in the woods or by the beach. It was life and I had  _ no _ idea who I really was. I’d been following along in your shadow and energy for so long that I didn’t really have any of my own.”

Chloe knew that they should have had this conversation all the way back when it mattered.  _ Knew _ that it would have made some sort of difference. 

She also knew that back then she wouldn’t have been willing to listen.

“So is that what Kate gives you? Space? Room for all your own decisions?” Chloe let the question trail off, hands in her lap and body stilled.

Max nodded and took a sip of her drink, “Yeah. She’s  _ very _ down to earth. Similar interests, similar hobbies. She doesn’t make me feel like I’ve gotta keep running to catch up.” She leaned back on her stool and drew in her breath, “She’s just present, you know? I can put myself out there and she’ll keep me from falling. She’s there for  _ me _ in ways that you never were.”

Chloe could feel that biting need to prove herself again. Sarcastic and biting, something that needed validation and control. She bit it back.

“So going from me to, well,  _ her, _ isn’t that like, super whiplash? No disrespect or anything but she’s the absolute last person I would have expected to show up in a shithole like this.” Chloe finished her words and looked off towards the bartender who was now giving her a hard-edged frown at the description of the place. Chloe raised her arms in surrender, “No disrespect meant. It’s a lovely shithole.”

Max had the thinnest outline of a smile on her face by the time the bartender left them alone again, her blue eyes opened up and sparkling amid the dim light.

“Yeah, she’s different, that’s for sure. Oh god,” Max downed the last of her drink, half of it spilling out in preemptive laughter. “We met when we were still in college, she was president of the Abstinence Club if you can believe it.”

Chloe let the giggles that lay deep within her throat bubble forth, “Oh yes I can believe that! You sure know how to pick em’, huh?”

“Yeah, I do.” Max’s smile extended to her words, “She’s way toned down now. It used to be all she wore were knee-length skirts, and all she listened to was choir music. I helped to pull her out of that shell though. She came out to her family once we landed our own apartment, and I mean she’s still really religious and all that but it’s in her own way now. It works.”

Chloe shifted in her seat, “Well, I’m glad you found someone, Max. Really, I am.”

“Thanks Chloe. And I’m glad you did too. Just,” Max’s face pinched up, eyes rolling. “Just don’t tell Vic that I said that. I’m sure she’d never let me live it down.”

_ Bzzt-Bzzt-Bzzt _

“Well speak of the fucking Devil,” Chloe plucked the phone from her pocket, quickly swiping through the notifications that Victoria was sending her way. She shuffled between her hands and pulled out a wad of cash from her pocket before dropping it back onto the bar, “Well, my ride is here. I’m gonna head out.”

She stood up on unsteady feet to sling her backpack around her shoulder. Her body creaked as she forced herself to stand straight and look Max in the eye, “It was good to see you, Max.”

“You too Chloe. Here,” Max said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a faded business card. The front was embossed with a beautiful rendition of a butterfly in flight, the other side holding a camera and Max’s contact information. “It’s my cell number, but I use it for work as well. I don’t really have a legit place to work out of but it’s what I’m focusing on. Just hit me up when you wanna talk, alright? It would be nice to catch up somewhere quieter.”

Chloe smiled as she placed the card into her pocket with as much care as she could muster, walking as she talked and waving in a way she hoped looked less than lame. 

“Sure thing Max. I’ll- I’ll talk to you later.” Her words faded, her smile flashed, and then she was out the door.

Outside the bouncer who had annoyed her before was still standing guard. Instead of looking at her, he seemed to have his eyes set toward a rather tall blonde who stood alone in the parking lot.

Chloe smacked at the back of his head as she walked by, “Eyes off her meathead, she’s mine.”

Chloe flicked him off as she walked away, middle finger high in the air and smile growing wider the closer that she came to Victoria.

“What’s up babe,” Victoria wrapped her in a hug, hands squeezing far lower than was civil. “You have fun waiting for me?”

Chloe talked.

Victoria listened.

Car doors shut, both rode out from one chapter of their lives and into a new one.


End file.
